Isn't that also true for Sanford and Son and The Jeffersons?


By this show not focusing on social issues it is easy to watch and enjoy unlike

Good Times
Maude
All in the Family

I agree completely. What's Happening is much more light hearted than those "serious" shows. I also think What's Happening, Sanford and Son and The Jeffersons are all a million times funnier.

They just deal with regular, every day life without being serious and it worked. Not all shows have to do that.

I agree completely. What's Happening is much more light hearted than those "serious" shows. I also think What's Happening, Sanford and Son and The Jeffersons are all a million times funnier.


Yup which is you can look at them over and over due to the shows not having a lot of serious episodes

not every sitcom has to be serious in tone all the time, so i'm glad 'what's happening!!' didn't go down that route. besides, if it did, it wouldn't be as good as it was.

not every sitcom has to be serious in tone all the time, so i'm glad 'what's happening!!' didn't go down that route. besides, if it did, it wouldn't be as good as it was.

Would have been better if they eliminated dee and the mother

Actually, there is one episode of What's Happening that did focus a little on a black issue. The episode was on TVOne last night. Roger was going to the free clinic because the clinic was concerned about hypertension among blacks.

Yup which is you can look at them over and over due to the shows not having a lot of serious episodes
It was about a family and it wouldn't have been the same.

It was about a family and it wouldn't have been the same.


The 3 guys being at the soda shop or with each period was the appeal of the show

Not Dee

Not Mama


The end

There was one episode where the gang was involved in a music pirating scheme, by taping a Doobie Bros. Concert. The theme being black kids without soul. :lol:

There was one episode where the gang was involved in a music pirating scheme, by taping a Doobie Bros. Concert. The theme being black kids without soul. :lol:


Those were my favorite episodes.

But i will agree that the show was not about the family but the 3 Guys friendship because it was based on the Movie Coolie High.

Mabel was too damm big for TV. Real Rap

Those were my favorite episodes.

But i will agree that the show was not about the family but the 3 Guys friendship because it was based on the Movie Coolie High.
Funny movie. I didn't know that it was based on that movie.

Funny movie. I didn't know that it was based on that movie.

The original pilot was called Coolie High but it was too dark and they wanted something light for primetime TV.
So it evolved into What's Happening.

http://mentalfloss.com/article/56439/31-things-you-might-not-know-about-whats-happening

Would have been better if they eliminated dee and the mother

up until what's happening now, i couldn't stand dee. but i don't know if it would be as funny and entertaining without her. as for mabel, she was all right. didn't have a problem with her.

up until what's happening now, i couldn't stand dee. but i don't know if it would be as funny and entertaining without her. as for mabel, she was all right. didn't have a problem with her.

That's because on what's happening now she was an adult and not an annoying kid

That's because on what's happening now she was an adult and not an annoying kid

true

Huh? What's happening would not have been successful with the Dee character or the Mom. That's why the show tanked in the third season. The third season was exactly what you all claim was the anchor, just the three kids fooling around. That was a disaster. With all humor/comedy sitcoms, you need someone to anchor the humor. Or else, its all slap stick and antic. In Three's Company, you needed Janet to make Jack and Chrissy Funny. In Happy Days, you needed the Mom, Dad and Richie, or else the Fonz was meaningless. In What's Happening, you needed a straight laced anchor like the Mom, or else there's no check on the kid's craziness.

But I am OK with the show not tackling the social issues. Not all shows need to contain social or political commentary.

Huh? What's happening would not have been successful with the Dee character or the Mom. That's why the show tanked in the third season. The third season was exactly what you all claim was the anchor, just the three kids fooling around. That was a disaster. With all humor/comedy sitcoms, you need someone to anchor the humor. Or else, its all slap stick and antic. In Three's Company, you needed Janet to make Jack and Chrissy Funny. In Happy Days, you needed the Mom, Dad and Richie, or else the Fonz was meaningless. In What's Happening, you needed a straight laced anchor like the Mom, or else there's no check on the kid's craziness.

But I am OK with the show not tackling the social issues. Not all shows need to contain social or political commentary.


Do you really think people stopped watching because Mabel's fat a$$ wasn't on there anymore?:lol:

This was a show about middle class/ lower middle class teenage kids from a neighborhood in the 1970's. I am white, but lived in a mixed neighborhood and went to a large majority black school my 7th and 8th grade years and the black teens of that era were a lot like these kids. Just kids, not that much different than the white kids with some exceptions to musical styles (not the Doobie Brothers) and clothing styles. The bad kids smoked weed and fought, there was no crack cocaine yet, and most kids who had parents were not in gangs. In my nearly all black school, there were no gangs, and dare say, little drugs besides tobacco.

That is the whole idea of What's Happening and Cosby Show. You didn't see these people as black people. You just saw them as people. What a concept. It is the liberals, the very ones who say that they want racial equality who find shows about happy black families and smart, friendly black people to be not the norm.

This was a show about middle class/ lower middle class teenage kids from a neighborhood in the 1970's. I am white, but lived in a mixed neighborhood and went to a large majority black school my 7th and 8th grade years and the black teens of that era were a lot like these kids. Just kids, not that much different than the white kids with some exceptions to musical styles (not the Doobie Brothers) and clothing styles. The bad kids smoked weed and fought, there was no crack cocaine yet, and most kids who had parents were not in gangs. In my nearly all black school, there were no gangs, and dare say, little drugs besides tobacco.

That is the whole idea of What's Happening and Cosby Show. You didn't see these people as black people. You just saw them as people. What a concept. It is the liberals, the very ones who say that they want racial equality who find shows about happy black families and smart, friendly black people to be not the norm.


Who compared what's happening to the cosby show? Those shows have nothing in common

I make the comparison just to show that people are just people. Did not have to do the whole racial problem, "very special episode", Norman Lear type stuff. This was a show about three older teenage boys who went to school, wanted girlfriends and just hung out. But detractors and liberals will say "Oh, but this is a BLACK SHOW! These people are so repressed and they need to be shown to be so repressed...."

Liberals hated The Cosby Show because of the fact that both parents were very well off, both had excellent, well paying careers, had a nice home with loving, respectful but somewhat dumb (Denise, Theo were dunderheads, Vanessa a spoiled twit) kids! No living in the projects, no slang, no stupidity like one would see in shows like Good Times and lots of the other so called "black shows" one would see on UPN.

Raj was a smart kid with a evil, brat sister, Rerun was a goof with a talent for entertainment and dancing, and Dwayne was a laid back teenage kid. Not gang members, not Black Muslim radicals, none of them have been arrested or beaten by the cops. Just a nice show with people we all can relate to no matter what the background. Again, liberals hate this, they want division which is the problem with American society now.

I make the comparison just to show that people are just people. Did not have to do the whole racial problem, "very special episode", Norman Lear type stuff. This was a show about three older teenage boys who went to school, wanted girlfriends and just hung out. But detractors and liberals will say "Oh, but this is a BLACK SHOW! These people are so repressed and they need to be shown to be so repressed...."

Liberals hated The Cosby Show because of the fact that both parents were very well off, both had excellent, well paying careers, had a nice home with loving, respectful but somewhat dumb (Denise, Theo were dunderheads, Vanessa a spoiled twit) kids! No living in the projects, no slang, no stupidity like one would see in shows like Good Times and lots of the other so called "black shows" one would see on UPN.

Raj was a smart kid with a evil, brat sister, Rerun was a goof with a talent for entertainment and dancing, and Dwayne was a laid back teenage kid. Not gang members, not Black Muslim radicals, none of them have been arrested or beaten by the cops. Just a nice show with people we all can relate to no matter what the background. Again, liberals hate this, they want division which is the problem with American society now.


Actually Black Leaders at the time had a issue with Good Times when it first aired in 1974. It was because of the family living in the projects and the mom not having a job

These shows were popular because they showed people as they are. Our culture today is completely spineless to frank talk about social issues. It's all about entitlements no matter the race or age. Everything is about an ideal point of view brought to you by special interest groups who frown on their own cultures instead of celebrating who they really are. We live in an age where people want to see others demeaned by these phony "reality shows" or fall over watching stupid comedies that are so sex driven, you wonder if anyone ever leaves their bedrooms. It's the very antithesis of real life.

Huh? What's happening would not have been successful with the Dee character or the Mom. That's why the show tanked in the third season. The third season was exactly what you all claim was the anchor, just the three kids fooling around. That was a disaster. With all humor/comedy sitcoms, you need someone to anchor the humor. Or else, its all slap stick and antic. In Three's Company, you needed Janet to make Jack and Chrissy Funny. In Happy Days, you needed the Mom, Dad and Richie, or else the Fonz was meaningless. In What's Happening, you needed a straight laced anchor like the Mom, or else there's no check on the kid's craziness.

But I am OK with the show not tackling the social issues. Not all shows need to contain social or political commentary.

I personally found Chrissy to be unfunny (outside the very early episodes) and that had nothing to do with Janet, but Suzanne Somers annoying performance.

That's because on what's happening now she was an adult and not an annoying kid

Yeah, she became an annoying adult. At least we saw less of her in What's Happening Now.